TRKNWS-L Press Summary

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: TRKNWS-L Press Summary
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl


      -- constitutional changes clear first hurdle, battles ahead
           the parliament on wednesday  allowed  the  package  of
constitutional amendments to  clear  the  crucial  first  hurdle,
agreeing to debate individually the  21  articles  the  governing
coalition and several  opposition  parties  jointly  want  to  be
changed.
     but the upcoming rounds of debates still threatened to upset
the precarious political balances with  the  islamists  remaining
committed to obstruct the package  unless  the  clauses  guarding
the country's secularism were also changed.
       ciller's  true path party (dyp) and the government partner
republican people's party (chp) also had  unresolved  differences
on  labor  rights.  the  21-article  package  based  on  a  shaky
compromise  between  the  government  partners   and   the   main
opposition motherland party (anap), begets a crisis literally  by
the hour as its backers, under  pressure  from  their  respective
in-party rebels, advance new conditions or dig in their heels.
       although the advocates of the upgrade carried the day, the
result did not leave room for too much jubilation as  the  number
of the yes votes fell short of the  required  300  necessary  for
the eventual passage of the  amendments,  confirming  fears  that
the opponents can still doom the package.

     -- ankara raps euro-parliament resolution on ex-dep deputies
  turkey, rapping a resolution of the euro-parliament linking the
release of jailed  kurdish  deputies  with  ratification  of  the
customs union, maintained that linking the  lucrative  deal  with
other factors would not benefit any of the sides.
  "it is sad that the european parliament keeps this issue on the
agenda despite our repeated statements that under  the  principle
of separation of powers, neither  the  (turkish)  parliament  nor
the government can influence  the  judiciary,"  foreign  ministry
spokesman omer akbel said.
        the european parliament, which previously froze its joint
parliamentary committee with turkey, passed a resolution late  on
thursday saying it would oppose the trade  deal  if  their  terms
were not met.

           -- turkey signals rapprochement with amsterdam
    turkey and the netherlands, whose ties have been strained for
months due to the meeting of the  so-called  kurdish  "parliament
in-exile" in the hague, are taking steps  to  improve  relations,
the foreign ministry said on wednesday.
   "we have said, from the very beginning, that we maintained the
principle of dialogue in order to improve our relations with  the
netherlands, "foreign ministry spokesman omer akbel said  in  the
first press conference after his appointment. "now  we  see  that
the contacts we have had between the two countries  have  yielded
some progress."  while  akbel  did  not  specify  the  diplomatic
contacts that had taken  place,  he  did  say  that  a  technical
delegation - which included security personnel -  would  meet  in
ankara this week.
   "this technical level meeting aims at effective action against
the kurdistan workers' party in the netherlands.  we  envisage  a
step up  in  our  cooperation  against  terrorism,"  akbel  said.
however,  the  new  spokesman  appeared  reluctant  to   give   a
timetable  on  when  its  ambassador  to  the  netherlands,  zeki
celikkol, called back to ankara for consultations  after  the  so
called kurdish parliament in exile, will  return  to  the  hague.
   omer akbel also expressed concern over what he called "lack of
coordination and cooperation"  among  turkey's  european  allies.
"we have seen that some countries, who do not see  themselves  as
direct targets of terrorist  organizations,  display  a  hesitant
attitude in taking precautions against terrorism,"  he  said.  he
said that turkey differentiated between countries  "which  showed
the  necessary  sensitivity   and   determination   in   fighting
terrorism and those who did not."
         "it is also obvious that these two attitudes will have a
reflection on their bilateral  relations  with  turkey...  it  is
obvious that this will be an important point of consideration  in
cooperation in any field with those countries," he said.

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 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)